Third time is a charm. Viva Technology (or “VivaTech” for short) hosted its kick-off press conference to present this year’s event. And this year is going to be quite special for TechCrunch as well because we’re hosting a Startup Battlefield Europe at VivaTech and a Hackathon. Hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the press conference started off with… Read More
14
Feb
2018
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Viva Technology conference
Third time is a charm. Viva Technology (or “VivaTech” for short) hosted its kick-off press conference to present this year’s event. And this year is going to be quite special for TechCrunch as well because we’re hosting a Startup Battlefield Europe at VivaTech and a Hackathon. Hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the press conference started off with… Read More
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield is headed to VivaTech in Paris on May 24th to find and feature the best early-stage startup across Europe! In partnership with VivaTech, Startup Battlefield Europe will feature startups from across continental Europe working on the cutting-edge technologies blooming this Spring. VivaTech is the perfect spot to host our Startup Battlefield Europe competition as… 
JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant that is Alibaba’s closest rival, is raising giving its logistics spin-out business a huge boost after it announced that the unit is raising $2.5 billion. JD Logistics, which became a standalone business last April, is raising the investment capital from a range of backers who include Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia China, China Merchants Group, Tencent,… 
Outbrain, the network known for distributing garbage clickbait articles and ads on sites across the internet, is now going to offer a premium product that ensures that the articles recommended to folks at the bottom of their screens will be less garbage. Onstage at the Code Media conference, Outbrain chief executive Yaron Galal announced Sphere, a premium exclusive publisher-to-publisher… 
Rockville, Maryland-based Homesnap has come a long way from its days as a consumer-facing app for displaying information about local homes by taking a photo. While its current app still works this way for prospective buyers, these days its core focus is for U.S. real estate agents, and close to 75% of them are said to be using it. The platform is equipped with hard-to-find data that helps them… 
Google just announced a plan to “modernize” email, allowing “engaging, interactive, and actionable email experiences.” Does that sound like a terrible idea to anyone else? It sure sounds like a terrible idea to me, and not only that, but an idea borne out of competitive pressure and existing leverage rather than user needs. Not good, Google. Send to trash. 
Magic Leap and the National Basketball Association are partnering with Turner Sports to show live games on its platform in an app that will be available to Magic Leap One “Creator Edition” customers. The partnership announced onstage at the Code Media conference in Huntington Beach, Calif. is the first, very vague, very nebulous, use case for Magic Leap (at least that I’ve… 
There’s no doubt that linear advertising revenues are going to decline in the coming years for big networks. Squeezed by Facebook and Google on one side, and impossible consumer expectations created by Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services on the other, the idea of an ad-supported entertainment business is under siege. This chart from the analyst firm Moffet Nathanson shows just… 
In the age of altcoins, at least one news site is taking a novel approach to making ends meet. Salon announced today that it would give readers a choice between turning off ad-blocking software or “allowing Salon to use your unused computing power” in order to access their content. If you say yes to the latter deal, Salon will then invite you to install Coinhive, a software plugin…